"For years investors have had pretty good access to the finest economic thinkers, via research reports and print and television media.

Now the floodgates are really open: The economists — including prominent names from universities and even the Federal Reserve — have started blogging, posting their thoughts on the Web on a variety of things, including the rise in oil prices and the future of interest rates.

While many investors continue to take their cues from traditional outlets, the real news junkies — including those who aim to get a trading idea before they hear about it from their broker — have bookmarked the blogs, or Web logs. Even Wall Street itself is paying heed.

"It’s all about the ‘memes,’ " says Stan Jonas, head of interest rate strategy at Fimat USA in New York, employing a word that describes ideas that spread quickly by word of mouth — or Web. "Those guys say it and about a week or two later, the guys on Wall Street pick it up."

Please use the comments to demonstrate your own ignorance, unfamiliarity with empirical data and lack of respect for scientific knowledge. Be sure to create straw men and argue against things I have neither said nor implied. If you could repeat previously discredited memes or steer the conversation into irrelevant, off topic discussions, it would be appreciated. Lastly, kindly forgo all civility in your discourse . . . you are, after all, anonymous.

5 Responses to “WSJ: Economists Join Blogging Frontier”

Last spring many economists were worried about a slow down in the economy. Now very few are. The irony is that there are more reasons to be worried now than there were five months ago. The real funds rate is just one. Layoffs have soared 40% from the average of the first 4 months of this year. Normally, layoffs decline 20% during the summer. Oil prices are slowing the world economy and will slow the US economy soon. The discount programs by Detroit have borrowed sales from future months and have provided manufacturing a short-term shot in the arm. Money supply growth has slowed appreciably in recent months. And finally, the very fact that a majority of economists are so sanguine about the next six months is another reason to become cautious.The first signs of this unexpected slowdown should begin to emerge in September.

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About Barry Ritholtz

Ritholtz has been observing capital markets with a critical eye for 20 years. With a background in math & sciences and a law school degree, he is not your typical Wall St. persona. He left Law for Finance, working as a trader, researcher and strategist before graduating to asset managementRead More...

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